Web Banner Designing is the most important aspect for advertising on the internet. To create a good web banner, it is necessary to look at it from the perception of the viewer. Following are some web banner design tips that can increase the CTR (Click through Rate) of the banner.
- Catchy Punch Line
It is the most important part while designing a web banner for a website. The first step for designing a web banner is to create a catchy phrase. It is needed to stimulate the interest of the viewer and persuade them to click on the banner. Though the punch line should be catchy, it should be small phrase and should be visually appealing.
- Good Copy
Good copy is necessary for best web banner which should be short, simple and concise. The fancy animation and pictures just grabs the visitor’s attention and not attracts them to click on them. It is the text that entices people to click. Hence, it should be practical and informative which can make viewers curious about the product. It should tell the benefits of your product or service rather than features.
- Relevant Content
To attract the visitors, it is necessary to select the relevant content. You should make sure that the pictures displayed in the banner are relevant to your product or service, so that the visitor will make a purchase.
- Logo and Web Site URL
You can add both the logo and website URL in the banner. It will be best to keep logo and URL together on the left or the right side of the banner. The size of the logo should be small and the font size of the URL should also be small. But you should make sure that the logo and website URL should not dilute the copy or the punch line of the banner.
- File Size
It is the most important thing which should be considered while designing a banner. The file size should be small because if the .jpg or .gif file is used, it will take few seconds to download because of their large size. The visitors do not have that much time. And by the time, your banner ad opens; the visitor might scroll down the page and may not see your banner. If they don’t see the banner they definitely won’t click on it. So make sure that the file size should be minimal. 10kb or less is the ideal file size for a web banner.
- Call to Action
This is the easiest way to increase the CTR (Click through Rate) of a banner. It only involves the words like “click here”, “sign up now” or something else. Today, all online ads have a link and its purpose is to get people click on it and visit the website of advertisers. But, however, the world is being so used to off-line advertising most of the people just see the banners. They even don’t realize that they have to click on it to find more. In this way, call to action increases the effectiveness of the banner.
- Animation
Animated banners affect more rather than the static banners. They generate almost 30% higher CTR than static one. The banner is meant to grab the attention of the website visitor. Small animation is used to do the task. Large animation is a drawback as it results in larger file sizes. Animated banners attract the visitor very fast.
- Fake Factor
Designers can use fake elements in a web banner. There are different fake elements which web banners designers can use such as fake text links; fake text boxes, fake selection boxes, fake scroll bars, and fake submit buttons etc. They make a great effect because people think that by clicking on a link they will go to another page of the same site. They don’t know that by clicking on a button they are actually clicking on a banner with just the picture of a button.
- Use Flash
Though animated banners generate higher CTR, the banners developed in Flash generate higher CTR than animated ones. They are more interactive and involve the visitor directly. Flash has opened a complete new area in the web banner design. The files are much smaller than animated files and also smoother than animated gifs. But the requirement is the viewer should have plugin to his system. Hence, whenever you submit a Flash banner to a banner ad campaign, you are asked for the animated gif version as well.
